Russian Duma Committee Approves Bill to Regulate Cryptocurrency Mining
The Russian State Duma’s Financial Markets Committee has recommended that the lower house of parliament pass a bill regulating cryptocurrency mining in its first reading. The bill, initiated by a group of deputies from various factions led by Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Financial Markets Committee, is scheduled for consideration by the State Duma on July 23, according to TAСС.
Reintroduced in April 2024, the bill was initially presented in November 2022 and has since been revised. It proposes that requirements for individuals and entities engaged in cryptocurrency mining, including mining pool participants, be established by the Russian government in consultation with the Bank of Russia. The Ministry of Digital Development will oversee compliance with these requirements. Only Russian legal entities and individual entrepreneurs listed in a government registry will be permitted to mine. Individuals who do not exceed government-set energy consumption limits can mine without being included in the registry. The government will determine the procedure for maintaining this registry through regulatory acts.
Measures to Control Cryptocurrency Circulation
The bill includes measures to control the circulation of cryptocurrencies to prevent their use in money laundering, financing terrorism, or other criminal activities. Entities involved in mining will be required to provide information to an authorized government body about the digital currency received from mining and associated address identifiers. The Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) will maintain a list of address identifiers suspected of being used for money laundering or terrorism financing.
Given the risks associated with cryptocurrency circulation, the bill allows for the sale of mined cryptocurrency without using Russian information infrastructure. It explicitly prohibits the organization of cryptocurrency circulation within Russia and bans the advertisement or offering of cryptocurrencies to the public, as well as goods and services related to the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies.
Energy Consumption Regulations
To address energy consumption issues in cryptocurrency mining, the bill grants the government the authority to ban mining activities in certain regions or territories of Russia. It also prohibits combining mining activities with electricity-related activities.
“Adopting this bill will establish a legal framework that will facilitate further comprehensive regulation of issues related to the issuance and circulation of digital currencies,” the explanatory note states.
